A1. It feels a little strange actually and I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking over my shoulder waiting for the old press knife to come flying back at me. It's also very pleasant and I intend to enjoy my new favour for as long as it lasts. I have no idea why things have changed but it could be because I've been going out more recently, to gigs and parties, and so have met many journalists face to face, often for the first time. Maybe they've realised I'm not quite the nasty little man they thought I was.

Q2. And how does it feel to be called an influence by younger bands?

A2. It feels great although it's all come as something of a surprise. I've been quite reclusive over the years and so I've had no feel at all for how I was perceived, other than the bad press, and so I had no idea that my music had touched anyone in any meaningful way. It's very flattering to be told that you've infleunced other bands and, as a songwriter, it's a great honour.

Q3. Aren't you a bit disappointed that most of the covered material from 'Random' is old stuff of yours?

A3. I would have preferred to have seen more recent songs but the period that people remember most is the early years, that's when I had my most success, so far anyway, and so it's understandable that songs were chosen mainly from those years. If the people on 'Random' were more familair with my more recent songs then it's possible that they would have chosen some of them instead. To be honest it's my failing, as the owner of my own record label Numa Records, that people aren't more aware of my recent albums. It's my job as an artist to write and record them but it's also my task to do a good job of selling them. Numa Records has never been a very good label for selling Gary Numan records and so the lack of awareness of my later work, and the lack of more recent songs on 'Random', is very much down to me I'm afraid. We do try very hard with Numa but we don't have the money or the expertise to really compete with proper labels.

Q4. Do you have a favourite on 'Random? I think 'Absolution' and 'Down In The Park' are quite brilliant.

A4. I like many of the tracks and so choosing a favourite is all but impossible. I've also only heard it through once so I'm not that familiar with all the songs yet. However, I'm very impressed by 'Gravity Kills', 'Pop Will Eat Itself', 'Dubstar', 'Republica', 'Ann Pierle', 'Matt Sharp & Damon Albarn', Jesus Jones', Peck Slip' and many more.

Q5. One of your compilations was called 'Isolate', your next album will be called 'Exile'. Did you feel that much isolated from the pop business during the 80's when you had problems with the press and Radio 1? Do you still feel this way?

A5. I still feel as though I'm in the middle of a huge and very dangerous and difficult fight. Almost my entire career has felt like that. The thing to bear in mind is that I have been around now for nearly 20 years. In all that time I have only been signed to a proper record label for a total of 7 years, more or less. I have not been play-listed on British Radio 1 since 1983, about 14 years, regardless of chart position. Despite all that I have had well over 30 chart singles in the UK and about 20 chart albums. I find it impossible to feel, with those kind of figures, anything other than isolated from the business. In all those 20 years I've only recently started to get things written about me which are kinder than savage criticisms. It has been an incredibly difficult task to keep the career going, to keep my convictions and hold up my head, to keep my faith in what I was doing. It will take me a while longer yet, despite the recent chnage of attitude of the press, to feel anything other than isolated. I've been fighting alone, backed into a corner, for too long. I'm very, very proud that I've managed to last this long when I consider how little help I've had from radio, press or record companies.

Q6. Have you ever thought about giving up your music completely?

A6. Yes, from time to time but never for very long and only when things have been particularly bad which, thankfully, isn't very often. I think most of us would still want to do it, with or without the fame or the money.

Q7. What are the advantages of running an independant label of your own and what are the advantages for you?

A7. The disadvantages of an independant label are the lack of money and the lack of experienced and skilled staff. You need both to have any real chance of doing even a basic job on an album release. I know examples of independant label successes exist but they are comparitively rare and, in any case, my label has only two people working for it, myself and my father, so you can't get much more independant than that. The advantages are that we choose our own release schedule, we keep most of the money generated by sales and we don't have to compromise on the music to keep various record company personnel happy and 'involved'.

Q8. How do you estimate your role in modern pop music? Godfather of techno or outsider?

A8. It's a very difficult question for me to answer as I'm probably the least aware of my role in modern pop music. I've been called the Godfather of techno and the Godfather of Electronica, which is a bit sad considering I'm still in my thirties, just. Up until a few months ago, before 'Random' and a few other bands started talking about me and covering my songs, I felt like an outsider but perhaps that was not quite true. I think my role is only now being evaluated and it will take some time before I find my position. Of course I still have lofty ambitions to be more creative and more influential than I may have been so far so for me this is just another step on a long, long road.

Q9. What are your hopes for 'Exile', commercially and artistically?

A9. I hope it gets heard by everyone at least once. Then if it doesn't sell I'll have no-one to blame but myself. Then I would know the truth. I have no artistic hopes for it really, it is what it is. It is very dark, but very groove orientated, without being techno or dance or drum and bass. It's too easy to slip into a genre, into someone elses style, no matter how fashionable that style may be, and lose your own identity. I want the album to sound like me and nobody else, for good or for bad. I do not want to be easily classified as making one kind of music or another. If those are artistic hopes then I guess that's the answer.

Q10. What music do you listen to? Did you open up a bit more to recent music than you did before? What's your favourite recent record? 'Ultra', 'Earthling'?

A10. I'm a big fan of 'Gravity Kills' and 'Nine Inch Nails'. I also love 'Jesus Jones', 'Depeche Mode' and 'Sisters Of Mercy'. Actually I like loads of people but I tend to prefer harder music, powerful and moody rather than light and happy.

Q11. Can you explain how you 'lost it', if one can call it that way, during the 'Machine And Soul' era and how you came back with 'Sacrifice' - in my opinion the biggest surprise of your entire career?

A11. I lost it in the sense that I no longer knew what I wanted to sing about or to write about. I had no idea of what sound I wanted or what style I had. Nothing was natural, everything was contrived and so it felt stale and lifeless. I went from depression to depression as I tried to write but had no heart for it, no enthusiasm. Everything sounded awful and I went through a period of over six months where I threw away every single thing that I'd written or played. That destroyed what confidence I had left and so things went from bad to worse. I had been without any success for so long and without a friend to whisper words of encouragement and enthusiasm that I began to listen to advice. A major mistake. I began trying to write things that had little bits of everybody's advice sewn into them. I lost myself trying to keep others happy, because I lost my faith in going my own way. It was a desperate time and I will never get over it completely. To this day I find going into a studio frightening in case I can't think of anything, in case I dry up again. I genuinely get nervous and edgy when it's time to start on new songs. I came back with 'Sacrifice', a much much better album, because I started to see Gemma, who I'm going to marry this august. Gemma was the voice of enthusiasm and encouragement that had been missing. She was able to make me see what it was about my early work that had been so appealing. It was not the songs so much as how much of me was in them. With 'Sacrifice' I went back to working alone as I used to, playing everything myself, and everything fell into place again. It was a major return to form in my opinion and 'Sacrifice' has been a very popular album with the fans.

Q12. Is 'Cars' a blessing for your career or a curse? And can you still stand the song?

A12. It's both. To have written a song that has been so successful is very rewarding, financially and creatively. 'Cars' has been a hit in three different decades now, in the UK anyway, and has meant a great deal to hundreds of thousands of people. In many ways though it has become, with 'Are Friends Electric, a giant cloud that I'm still trying to get out from under. Most fans will tell you that 'Cars' is a long way from being the best song I've written, a long way, but it's the one that most people remember. That's frustrating but I can't really complain, to have any song achieve the success that 'Cars' has should be enough for anyone. I just wish that other songs, especially recent ones, could get the same sort of exposure that 'Cars' still gets. I get TV shows these days and I'm still told to play 'Cars', that pisses me off.

Q13. What's the latest news on the 'Kinsmen' project?

A13. The last I heard filming was supposed to start in september but these things seem to have a habit of changing so we'll have to see of that schedule stays together.

Q14. What role do you play?

A14. I will play the principle bad guy, a man called Martin Langam. Langam is a night club owner, a man involved in some killer drug and a man that kills when he needs to.

Q15. Aren't you afraid to become one of the popstars that make fools of themselves on screen?

A15. Yes, absolutely. But what can I do? I have to be honest and say that my music career is not going to last forever, I have to think about, and try, other things. This film is a good low key opportunity to see if I have any chance of becoming an actor. I don't expect to be great, but if I could be even average then I can only go forward from there. I could well embarrass myself but that's the risk you take. I have never wanted to be an actor so this is something that is very strange for me to be involved in, it goes against my nature and it was a huge and difficult decision to say yes. I actually said no for about 4 months until I was eventually persueded that I would be a fool to not at least have this one try. Who knows, I might even enjoy it, I might even be good at it. I doubt it but I would be an idiot to not take the chance. My heart though is in music, it's all I really want to do. I don't think anything can match the excitement of walking out onto a big stage and hearing the crowd roar. No matter how many other things I get involved in nothing comes close to playing live and I don't really expect acting will be any different. We'll see.

---------------------------

Gary Numan.

Machine Music Ltd.

(Numan Group)

(http://www.numan.co.uk)

---------------------------

GARY NUMAN page